ROCHESTER — Curt Connelly apologized for his facial stubble, but given the crowd he was speaking to Saturday night he didn’t need to. Those at the 23rd Rochester Sports Hall of Fame ceremony know all about sports superstitions.

Connelly’s daughter Isabella was playing Saturday in an AAU basketball state championship and he is one of the coaches.

“I’m superstitious, so I didn’t shave and won’t shave until the tournament’s over,” he said, drawing appreciative laughs and applause.

Connelly was one of six inductees into the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame, along with fellow athletes Kelly Donohue, Kristen Zeimetz and Michael Flynn, and contributors Dave Keller and Dan Wensley.

Also honored was Profile Bank as the recipient of the Roy Allain Award. The HOF also recognized two Rochester state championship teams: the undefeated 1955 Holy Rosary High school Class C state champion boys basketball team and Spaulding’s 1965 Division II state champion football team.

Connelly was a three-sport star at Spaulding High School, making his mark in baseball as a center fielder, a position he later played on scholarship for the University of New Hampshire baseball team.

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Dan Wensley makes a point during his induction speech Saturday night at the Rochester Elks Lodge. Wensley was one of six inductees into the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame. (Whaley/Democrat photo)

Connelly was also one of three former Spaulding athletes being honored who played at UNH. Donohue starred at Spaulding in three sports and played women’s basketball at UNH, while Zeimetz, Rochester’s most decorated swimmer, starred for the Wildcats as well.

Keller was connected to the Spaulding football program for 43 years, including 39 as a coach — 30 under the legendary Hugo Bolin. Wensley, a local attorney, coached youth baseball and football in Rochester for more than 35 years.

Although Connelly’s levity about his facial hair lightened up the crowd, he quickly turned to the importance of family, a theme that connected many of the inductees.

He mentioned his brothers, his in-laws, his wife and daughters, and lastly his parents, who followed him to almost every game he played at UNH.

“They didn’t miss anything,” Connelly said. “It’s great when you can share a tough loss, a great win. Unbelievable parents. I thank you. I love you both very, very much.”

Donohue, who scored a school-record 78 goals in three years on the Spaulding girls’ soccer team and scored more than 1,000 points in the same time playing basketball, talked of family, specifically her 2-year-old son, Colin, and her current job coaching women’s college basketball in Pennsylvania.

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Kristen Zeimetz makes her induction speech Saturday night at the Rochester Elks Lodge. Zeimetz was one of six inductees into the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame. (Whaley/Democrat photo)

“He kept me grounded,” Donohue said. “Last year my team struggled. We lost a lot of games — 5 and 21 to be exact. I talked to him about losing because he was pretty much the only one who could listen. He had no choice. One day he looked at me and said, ‘Mommy lose games.’ My answer to him was ‘Yes Colin, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. But as long as you try with character, mommy will always love you.’”

Flynn thanked family as well, but touched on a defining moment in his young golf career 20 years ago playing in the United States Amateur at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. He had just graduated from Texas Christian University and was playing very well. A total of 64 golfers qualify for this tournament and Flynn was in, winning his first match, 3 and 2, to advance to the round of 32.

“This particular match had quite a bit of significance in my life, because there’s no telling with this individual who I played if I would have beat him what would have happened,” recalled Flynn.

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Curt Connelly makes a point during his induction speech Saturday night at the Rochester Elks Lodge. Connelly was one of six inductees into the Rochester Sports Hall of Fame. (Whaley/Democrat photo)

Flynn’s opponent birdied the first four holes and he was down four strokes after four holes. Flynn was still playing well and they continued on and he was at even par at the 13th hole, but he lost 6 and 5.

“So we shake hands and move on,” Flynn said. “That was a pivotal part because if I could have done better or won, there’s no telling where I would be. It so happens that individual was Tiger Woods.”

Zeimetz comes from a family of swimmers, but she was the first one in a legacy that is in year No. 23 and counting. She swam at Spaulding, as did her brothers Justin and Eric and her sister Emily, who is the last of four Zeimetz children to swim in college. She is currently attending and swimming at the University of New England.

Kristen swam at UNH, the first Zeimetz to swim in college, and her two brothers followed at UMass-Amherst.

But swimming didn’t just jump out her. She was first a gymnast, took ballet and tap dancing (for a day) and then considered pee wee cheerleading. Then came swimming and Zeimetz was told she had what it takes be a great swimmer — large hands and large feet.

“Even though at 10 that’s not something you want to hear,” she said.

She went on to become a multi-state champ at Spaulding and earned a scholarship to UNH, where she was a record-setting standout for the Wildcats.

Keller logged some serious coaching time, a lot of it behind the scenes as an assistant. But he touched many players and Saturday he read a note from one: “Coach, you believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. You pushed me and I didn’t know why. Now as a man it has made me better at everything I do today. Thank you so much.”

Wensley never planned to get into coaching, but he did soon after his son, Aaron — then 8 — after returning from a trip to Cape Cod, said he would never be shown up again, after being shown up by his cousin, a girl, playing baseball.

Wensley signed up to coach at what was then Rochester Eastside Little League.

“I’m eternally grateful because it got me into 35 years of my life where I didn’t play golf, I didn’t play tennis,“ he said. “I coached sports. I worked with kids. Looking at me, it kept me young.”